Well of Goodwill
The Well of Goodwill is a special well located outside of the Grand Exchange main entrance. Money, items tradeable on the Grand Exchange, and bonds can be donated to it, to be given to real-life charitable causes chosen by Jagex. Every equated to $1 up to the last week in November 2013, when the amount increased to $2. For every bond donated, $4.70 is donated to charity. Donating amounts of coins or items earn a player up to 5 titles. Donations will carry over across the opening periods, allowing the titles to be earned over time. Effective giving It is more effective to give Bonds than coins as long as a Bond price never exceeds 47 million coins (at the evaluation of $1 per 10 million coins, with bonds at $4.70 per bond.) Certain items that trade well below their Grand Exchange price (for example snakeskin bandanas) allow very substantial leverage. Openings First opening The first opening lasted a month, from 30 October 2013 to 30 November 2013. On the 30th the well closed, and no new donations could be made, but the well itself remained in game, to be reopened with a different set of recipient charities. Attempting to donate after the closure gives the message "The charity event has now finished. Thank you for the support." Over 544 billion coins were donated (544,790,024,259), out of a maximum of a trillion coins (1,000,000,000,000). Second opening During the Double Experience Weekend from 21 February to 24 February 2014, players could once again donate wealth to the Well. All proceeds went to the SpecialEffect charity while Jagex was doing a 24 hour stream. Approximately 36 billion coins worth of items and 3,600 bonds were donated.http://services.runescape.com/m=news/gameblast-2014--thank-you Third opening The well was opened during November 2014, with a total of 512 billion gold worth of items donated.http://services.runescape.com/m=news/well-of-goodwill---final-totals Fourth opening The Well of Goodwill was open a fourth time on 20 February 2015 for the Bonus XP Weekend. Charities The chosen charities for the 30 October to 30 November period are: *Philippines Typhoon Appeal Typhoon Haiyan was 300 miles across when it struck the Philippines on the 8th of November and one of the most intense tropical storms to ever make landfall anywhere in the world. There are millions of people who have been affected, including hundreds of thousands who have been forced from their homes. Those who have survived now need urgent help including emergency shelter, clean water and food. * Hart is not just 'another aid organisation'. It is distinctive in that it combines aid with advocacy, working for peoples suffering from oppression, exploitation and persecution who are generally not served by major aid organisations and are off the radar screen of international media. * Willow is the only UK charity supporting seriously ill 16 to 40 year olds by providing them with memorable Special Days. During uncertain times, each unique Special Day is a positive focus away from treatment or marks recovery from illness. The planning, anticipation and excitement of the day boosts confidence, provides inspiration to make every moment count and creates lasting memories. Founded by former Arsenal goalkeeper and TV presenter Bob Wilson and wife Megs this year Willow will provide its 10,000th Special Day. * SpecialEffect is the only specialist charity in the world that focuses primarily on providing cutting edge technology to enable both severely disabled young people to get much more out of life by playing, competing and having fun with friends, family and the online community – from injured soldiers to young disabled people who are unable to play in any other way, whether they are in a hospital, hospice, rehabilitation centre or at home. * Action For Kids has been helping transform the lives of young people with physical and learning disabilities, across the country, since 1991, through the provision of mobility equipment, learning, training and support. * GamesAid is a games industry charity which acts as an umbrella to support a number of smaller charities who help disadvantaged and disabled children and young people. It is a non-trading body, administered by Trustees who operate on a fixed term basis run by a chairman who is also appointed on a fixed term. As the only fully democratic charity in the games space, members of the games industry propose and vote for the charities of their choice annually. The charities who get the top number of votes then get an equal share of all the monies raised that year, proving that games and gamers can do great things for others. * The Internet Watch Foundation is the internet Hotline for anyone to report online child exploitation anywhere in the world. Gallery Well of Goodwill lobby banner.png|The lobby banner depicting the well Well of Goodwill popup.png|The popup when first logging in after the update. Well of Goodwill interface.png|Selecting what to donate Well of Goodwill confirm interface.png|Confirming a donation Well of Goodwill thanks interface.png|Thanks for donating! Well of Goodwill 2 popup.png|The popup when first logging in after the update. Well of Goodwill 2 lobby banner.png|The lobby banner depicting the 3rd event. Well of Goodwill 2 confirm interface.png|The confirmation for the 3rd event. Trivia * A Blue partyhat can be seen sitting atop the well. Likewise, a Christmas cracker can be seen in the box of coins next to it. * Using an item on the well gives the message: "This is a special wishing well which will not take donations in this manner. Please click on the well to donate." * The well's default donation is 10% of whatever is selected, if there is more than one of that item present, which is a reference to the tithing system. * A bank option was added to the well on the 6th November 2013. * During the majority of November 2013, 10 million coins worth would equate to $1 being donated, but during the last week of November, an update to the well made it so $2 are donated instead. * During the fourth reopening, the Backstab cape, Explosive barrel, Dyes (Barrows, Shadow, Third age), Holly wreath and Sack of effigies had their price manually lowered to prevent abuse. References